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[Flying Dice]

No, it's actually great for a lot of situations:

1. DDs should always use HE because their AP won't penetrate anything except other DDs and maybe CVs, and they fire rapidly enough to set fires quickly and repeatedly.

2. CA/CLs should use HE when shooting at anything that isn't another cruiser or a BB of same/lower tier. Against DDs it serves the important purpose of repeatedly damaging their rudder and torpedo tubes, as well as setting fires -- you want to force them to repair and then cripple them again. Against BBs you're going to have trouble penetrating with AP unless they're same/lower tier. That, and because cruisers have many fast-firing guns, you're going to set more fires more often. Against CVs your overriding objective is to set them on fire and keep them on fire because a CV with a burning flight deck can't launch aircraft.

Basically, part of the reason why HE is terrible for BBs is because of how few shells they put out. The chance to start a fire isn't great and you aren't going to cripple components with every shot. CA/CLs, as per above, fire quickly and have many guns. That means that they're going to start a hell of a lot more fires and get at least one damaged component with every salvo; they can set you on fire and keep you on fire. DDs just flat out have no other options.

That said, what I prefer doing in my CA/CLs when I'm fighting a BB is this: Open with HE. Wait until he uses his repair, then set him on fire again. After he's burning for good, switch over to AP for higher damage. The only times where that doesn't work is when the enemy BB is armored sufficiently to stop your fire -- it's easy to notice that since you'll consistently get spalling damage.

But as a CA/CL against another CA/CL it's the same as in a BB vs. BB fight: HE does less damage and won't get you those juicy citadel penetrations, and that rapid fire high-volume shellfire that's so good at starting fires is also good at maximizing the AP DPS advantage and scoring repeated citadel penetrations. 'Course, it's still better to fire HE if that's what you have in the pipe when you see an enemy, just make sure to switch on the reload.

[BlindKitty]

I would say that the stats that are given to us in-game are somewhat lacking, too. For starters, I can't find anywhere info about armor. Or about shell penetration, for that matter. Which leads to general rules and memorization game, which... Isn't as fun as it should be, IMHO.

If the number were there, perhaps more people would notice what can penetrate who and get to use the right kind of shell.

[Cthulhu]

Okay, I'm confus.  So as a cruiser I should use HE against higher-armor targets, not lower?

[Hanzoku]

It sounds like you should use HE against both higher and lower armor targets, and use AP in specific situations. Basically, your guns aren't big enough for your AP shells to have a good chance of penetrating the thicker armor bands, so the chance to set fires is more useful.

[Flying Dice]

Use HE against anything you can't penetrate. Use HE against CVs as long as they're not on fire. Use HE on DDs until they're crippled.

Use AP against other cruisers. Use AP against BBs which you can penetrate, but only after you've set them on fire with HE, seen them repair, and set them on fire again.

This is part of why I said that the system was more nuanced than WoT's. That up above is just a general set of guidelines, what shell type you should use is something that you need to get a feel for on your own, and you need to learn how to judge what to use and when to switch in specific situations. Every matchup between your ship and your target is going to be different because of the different armaments and armor thicknesses.

That's one of the real strengths of CA/CLs is that they can do good work with both ammunition types and they reload quickly enough that you can afford to switch on the fly.

[Sonlirain]

Basically its generally best to use AP on BBs because they can easely penetrate other BBs and cruisers.
Cruisers get the most bang for the buck from repeated HE spammage but when facing other cruisers its a good idea to use AP instead because a good salvo hitting the citadel can almost oneshot another cruiser (St.Louis is a rule breaker because its citadel is damn near impossible to hit) and deal a ton of damage to BBs is the shots manage to penetrate and hit the citadel.
We're looking at something like 4k damage per shell and some cruisers have a TON of guns that fire pretty darn rapidly.

of course you have to penetrate to hit said citadel and unless you have a nice flat surface to plant shells into you will likely not hit the citadel because the shells will explode or bounce (causing spalling at times).

[Cthulhu]

I was inebriated last night and fired an entire salvo of torpedos point blank into a Tenryu as protest against him playing a Tenryu.

In retrospect this was a bad decision.

I di dget my first battleship, the South Carolina.  I like it.  It's very slow and doesn't really have the kind of range you'd expect to make up for it but I'm used to it from stuff like . Getting better at using things like armor angles and the like.

[PanH]

So I got into the beta now that it's open. And I'm kinda clueless as to what to do. I don't really know what to do. I got up to the St Louis, but I dont know what to do in battle. Sure, I hit ships and blow them up, but should I stick with teammates, protect the flank, go full speed since start, or whatever ? Slaloming between islands, getting close to enemies or waiting for them ?

I'm playing cruiser for now (going to buy a destroyer soon) and sometimes I feel like I'm useful and other times I just feel useless.

[Aklyon]

So I got into the beta now that it's open. And I'm kinda clueless as to what to do. I don't really know what to do. I got up to the St Louis, but I dont know what to do in battle. Sure, I hit ships and blow them up, but should I stick with teammates, protect the flank, go full speed since start, or whatever ? Slaloming between islands, getting close to enemies or waiting for them ?

I'm playing cruiser for now (going to buy a destroyer soon) and sometimes I feel like I'm useful and other times I just feel useless.

Stick to groups if possible, preferably not in front of destroyers.

[Cthulhu]

So I got into the beta now that it's open. And I'm kinda clueless as to what to do. I don't really know what to do. I got up to the St Louis, but I dont know what to do in battle. Sure, I hit ships and blow them up, but should I stick with teammates, protect the flank, go full speed since start, or whatever ? Slaloming between islands, getting close to enemies or waiting for them ?

I'm playing cruiser for now (going to buy a destroyer soon) and sometimes I feel like I'm useful and other times I just feel useless.

Cruisers really come into their own once carriers appear and you get your anti-air barrage.  It completely ruins enemy planes' ability to target your ships.

[Flying Dice]

The St. Louis is a shining bright point in the low-tier mediocrity, though. I've still got mine and I'm halfway towards unlocking my Cleveland.

Unrelated, I've got everything I ever wanted out of mods for Warships now (namely a less-shit UI and the recommended daily dose of burning love).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That game went less than well, though, considering that their CV was a Lexington and ours was a shitdiv'd Independence.

[Cthulhu]

I've been having fun with the Japanese destroyers.  Short detection range plus long torpedo range equals fun times.  I'm a little disappointed with the Wakatake but maybe it's just stock syndrome.

The South Carolina is garbage and it's really turning me off battleships entirely.

[Flying Dice]

The key to enjoying the South Carolina is to continually remind yourself that you could be driving a Kawachi instead.

But seriously though, the BB lines both hurt until the Myogi and New York respectively.

[Jopax]

I found the SC to be quite okay actually, certainly takes some getting used to since it's a bit of a shift from the cruisers but it's not that bad. I also got the Kawachi today and it's making SC look even better in comparison, mostly because holy hell that shit range.

This also means I need 8k xp on the Tenryu now, which I just don't see happening anytime soon because it's so god damn bad it's not even funny :C

Think I'll just stick to carrying games in the Omaha, that thing is super fun to play.

[BlindKitty]

This seems interesting, as I found Tenryu being quite OK. No comparison to US cruisers, though, as I only got to Tier 2 and decided that grinding both trees is way to much for me, as I only have a little time to play. Kawachi is terrible, there is no argument here, but Myogi seems much better (range is like, 50% better with stock Myogi than elite Kawachi).

Using BB AP shells on cruisers is fun. Especially when you score a penetrating hit to citadel. I'm all 'Boom! Headshot!'.